It is common to dispose, in a vehicle such as automobile, an armrest on a rear part of a console main body (center console) extending in a front-rear direction of the vehicle. Further, it is also common to configure the armrest to be slidable in the front-rear direction in order to secure an armrest function while permitting variation in physiques of occupants.
Patent Literature 1 discloses forming a pad having a longer dimension in a front-rear direction on each of left and right edges of a console main body to utilize the pads as an armrest. A container is formed between the pair of left and right pads, a top surface (lid) of the container being lower than the pads. Each of the pair of left and right pads has a substantially uniform width in the front-rear direction.
On the other hand, recently in many cases, various switches adapted to operate vehicle-mounted devices are disposed on a top surface of a console main body at a position in front of an armrest in a vehicle. As an example of the switches for operating the vehicle-mounted devices, Patent Literature 2 discloses providing an upwardly-projecting dial switch on a top surface of a console main body. These days, an increasing number of vehicles include such dial switch, which is rotated to operate, for example, a screen of a display provided in an instrument panel.
By the way, in the case where a dial switch is provided on a top surface of a console main body at a position in front of an armrest, it is important to sufficiently secure the operability of the dial switch because the dial switch is considered to be used at a high frequency. In particular, it is favorable for an occupant to operate the dial switch using his/her fingers with his/her arm (elbow) being placed on the armrest so that he/she can easily operate the dial switch. On the other hand, the armrest is desired to have a function that can overcome variation in physiques of occupants. In short, it is desirable to secure an armrest function that can overcome variation in physiques of occupants and secure the operability of the dial switch simultaneously.
The disclosure of Patent Literature 1 is satisfactory in the respect that the pair of left and right pads functioning as an armrest extend in the front-rear direction, so that an armrest function is secured irrespective of variation in physiques of occupants. However, each of the pads needs to have a large width (length in a vehicle width direction) in order to sufficiently secure the armrest function. This means that the width of the top surface of the console main body between the pair of left and right pads are made small, which makes it difficult to secure a sufficient installation space for switches such as a dial switch, a container, and the like. It can be considered to configure the armrest to be slidable in order to overcome variation in physiques of occupants. However, in this case, the structure is complicated and it is necessary to adjust the position of the armrest by sliding it according to a physique, which is therefore unfavorable.